There were 18,783 abortions in Scotland in 2025, the highest on record, Public Health Scotland announced on Tuesday.

Provisionally quarterly figures previously showed there were 45,091 births in the same year which means more than one in four recorded pregnancies ended in abortion.

The figures reveal a stark 55pc increase in the number of abortions over the last ten years while the abortion rate per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 increased from 11.9 in 2016 to 17.6 in 2025.

There was also a rise in repeat abortions from 7,672 in 2024 to 7,927 in 2025. In 2025, 42pc of abortions were repeat abortions.

The figures also show there were 277 disability-selective abortions in 2025—a 61pc increase compared to 2018, when there were 172.

The number of abortions at between 18 and 20 weeks gestation was 138 in 2025, a 50pc increase from 2018, when there were 92 such terminations.

Meanwhile, a review of abortion law, released in November 2025, recommended that Scotland scrap the 24-week abortion time limit and allow terminations on social grounds right up to birth.

This would leave Scotland with one of the most extreme abortion laws in the world.